Tim Weisberg: End of an era when Celtics-Lakers battle today

This afternoon, the Boston Celtics visit the Los Angeles Lakers in a marquee matchup on a national stage. It's a rivalry that was renewed in 2007-08 and re-captivated NBA fans, as the two franchises returned to prominence and did battle twice in the Finals as the two teams have accounted for three of the NBA's past four champions.

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By TIM WEISBERG

southcoasttoday.com

By TIM WEISBERG

Posted Mar. 11, 2012 at 12:01 AM

By TIM WEISBERG

Posted Mar. 11, 2012 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

This afternoon, the Boston Celtics visit the Los Angeles Lakers in a marquee matchup on a national stage. It's a rivalry that was renewed in 2007-08 and re-captivated NBA fans, as the two franchises returned to prominence and did battle twice in the Finals as the two teams have accounted for three of the NBA's past four champions.

And today could very well be the last chapter of that rivalry.

Both teams are at a crossroads; the Celtics are ready to move into the post-Big 3 era, and the Lakers are looking for a shakeup and infusion of younger talent. It seems as if Boston is ready to move on with younger talent and is willing to take a step back to build a strong core for the future, while L.A. is looking to keep themselves in the championship mix, despite shipping out Lamar Odom earlier this season and reportedly shopping Pau Gasol.

This is likely the last time these two teams, as presently constituted, will go head to head. Even if somehow, both teams miraculously make the Finals again this year, they're going to need some degree of roster change to make it there. And if not, well, by the time they meet again next season, the Celtics — with the expiring contracts of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Jermaine O'Neal coming off the books this summer — will certainly looked markedly different.

But the summer is still a long way off, and the only thing on the Celtics' minds right now is getting past a brutal 14-day stretch.

The Celtics will play eight games over the next two weeks, which Rivers said is the longest road trip in the 26 years he's been a part of the NBA.

"It's a long road trip but I do think there's rest in it. The first two games are tough because of the long flight, you play (today in LA) and then you play the next day (against the Clippers)," he said. "But then after that, there's days off in between."

After the two games in L.A., the Celts move on to play Golden State in Oakland, the Kings in Sacramento, the Nuggets in Denver, and then it's back East to face the Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks and the Philadelphia 76ers before returning to TD Garden on March 25 to host the Wizards.

But the Celtics team that makes its homecoming that night could be very different from the one that burned the Trail Blazers on Friday night at the Garden. Yet with the trade deadline approaching on March 15, Danny Ainge and head coach Doc Rivers have said all is quiet on the trade front.

"Nothing is even close. As of right now, we have nothing close to happening," Ainge said on WEEI. "It's not from a lack of trying. Not necessarily to make major changes, but to make small changes at least. But we still have a lot of time before March 15 to see if we can do something to help our team."

Last year, Ainge made a deadline deal and sent starting center Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City, hoping to get a spark off the bench from Jeff Green. Instead, Green struggled and the chemistry of the Celtics was shot to heck. Rivers said he's not worried about chemistry being an issue at all this season, due to the hectic pace following the lockout.

"I'm not concerned with it this year as far as on the floor. I told Danny, whoever we bring in would probably have one less practice than all of us. If you can get a better talent this year, the chemistry thing is off, and that's dangerous to tell Danny," Rivers told reporters. "I look at chemistry in a lot of ways. Chemistry has been good all season as far as guys getting along in the locker room. As far as chemistry on the floor, it's been very difficult. It's not just the amount of games, it's the fact we haven't been healthy. Take that, and take away all the practices, and it's just been difficult. At the end of the day, we have to get it right.''

Would getting it right mean trading away Garnett, Allen or Paul Pierce, the guy who just played in his 1,000th career game, all as a Celtic? We've been told Ainge is cold and calculating when it comes to the future of the franchise, and isn't going to let emotion cloud his judgment when it comes to making moves that will pay off two or three years down the line.

"All that talk about Danny blowing it up, about not making the same mistakes as Red (Auerbach), is fine," former teammate and Pacers president Larry Bird recently told ESPN's Jackie MacMullen. "But now that it's his turn to pull the trigger, it's a helluva lot harder than it looks."

Even if Ainge doesn't pull the trigger — because let's face it, the bullets he has might not be as high of a caliber as he thinks they are — it's still going to be the end of an era at the Staples Center this afternoon. And the NBA will be just a little worse off for it.

Tim Weisberg covers the Boston Celtics for The Standard-Times. Contact him at timweisberg@hotmail.com.